Time for another installment of my solo game using Dungeon Crawl Classics to run through the adventure included in TSR’s AC3, Dragon Tiles. Spoilers for that adventure below.

The party has decided to split with four hardy souls who plan to scale the building under command of the Tax Collector and the rest led by the Guild Beggar who will go through the front door. After a quick huddle it was determined that the Tax Collector would supervise the Beekeper, the Halfling Glovemaker, and the Herbalist in trying to get to the roof. Canvasing the various equipment everyone had it was decided a crowbar and at least one iron spike would be useful so the Ditch Digger and Shaman were asked to give those items to the second story team. After a brief but tense negotiation the Tax Collector agreed to pay them market value for the items once the adventure was completed. The crowbar and iron spike were given to the Herbalist who gave his club to the Halfling Glovemaker. The Glovemaker’s grappling hook was tied to the end of the Beekeeper’s rope and the Herbalist was elected to attempt to secure it to the top of the tower on the right front of the house.

Here is what our second story crew looks like:

I will say securing the grappling hook to the top of the tower is a DC 10 check. I don’t think any of our intrepid adventurer’s occupations lend themselves to this task so it will be an unskilled Reflex check. In DCC skilled checks are rolled on a d20 and unskilled ones are rolled on a d10. The Herbalist gets a +2 to Reflex Checks. Rolling an 8 he just makes it! Now will he succeed in scaling the wall? I will give him a +2 for the rope in addition to his natural +2 but this is still an unskilled Reflex check, with a 9 he easily makes it and is able to scale the wall.

While this is going on the rest of our heroes, under the Guild Beggar’s leadership are going through the front door. You can see all their character sheets back in the Meet the party post. To decide who goes first I will roll a d12, and I got a 12! It looks like the Cheesemaker drew the short straw. As the Cheesemaker approaches the steps, he sees two gargoyle statues, one on either side of the entryway. Five-foot wide, iron-banded double doors stand in the porch’s north wall. With a gulp the Cheesemaker surveys the scene before advancing. I’m going to make a unskilled check against DC 10 to notice anything odd. Because the Cheesemaker has a +1 to intelligence and a 10 foot pole I’m going to give them +3 to the roll, 1 for the Intelligence modifier and 2 for the pole. Unskilled checks in DCC are done with a D10. I rolled a 2 so with a total of 5 the Cheesemaker fails and does not notice anything out of the ordinary.

(If I had used my preferred skill system, a d6 starting with 1 in 6 chance and adding 1 for each thing in the character’s favor the Cheesemaker would have had a 3 in 6 chance after factoring in Intelligence and the pole. That said I’m trying to mostly play RAW here.)

The Cheesemaker slowly advances forward but just after he passes the gargoyle statues the one on the left pivot’s and it’s clawed wings of stone swing out to hit the Cheesemaker!

The module says the character must roll a d20 and get their Dexterity score or lower to avoid the blow. This would be a Reflex save in DCC. Normally the Cheesemaker’s high Agility of 15 would give him a +1 to this roll but the Cheesemaker’s Birth Augur is Struck By Lightning and that means he has to apply his starting Luck modifier to his Reflex Saving Throw. The Cheesemaker’s starting Luck is 7 which gives a modifier of -1 which cancels out the +1 so it is just a straight roll. To make a Saving Throw in DCC you roll a d20, plus any modifiers, and compare it to the DC. I have two options here. I can use twenty minus the character’s Agility score as the DC, which follows the intent of the module, or I can assign a DC going by the examples in the Skills section of the DCC rules. In that case I would probably assign a DC 15 to this. The first way means the Cheesemaker has to roll 5 or higher on a d20 and the second means he has to roll 15 or higher on a d20. As much as I want to use the former I think the latter is more in line with my intent as stated in previous posts.

The roll is a 7 and the Cheesemaker is struck by the stone wings of the gargoyle! The module specifies this will do 1d6 damage and I rolled a 3. The Cheesemaker started with 4 Hit Points so he is still barely alive.

The Guild Beggar yells, “Get them!” and our band of heroes surge forth to do battle. They will split up and six will attack each gargoyle. Normally at this point we would do initiative but as you may have guessed these aren’t normal gargoyles, they are a trap, statues that spin based on pressure plates just past them on the stone porch at the top of the steps. Let’s see if the Cheesemaker realizes this, we’ll give a DC 10 check and he’ll get his +1 for Intelligence. I’ll even make it a skilled check since he did step on the plate. The roll was an 8, +1 makes it a 9 which is just shy so the Cheesemaker, still reeling from the blow, does not realize what happened and cannot warn his companions about the pressure plates. I will roll for two unlucky souls who will activate the plates and need to make a Saving Throw themselves. The Woodcutter, who has a -1 to their Reflex Save, and the Cooper who has a -2 to theirs! With a 3 and a 1 both are struck by these pesky statues as they swing around doing 6 points to the Woodcutter and 3 points to the Cooper. Both are killed.

The Statues are unable to fight back and can each take 6 points of damage until they are destroyed. I am going to roll because natural 1’s are Fumbles in DCC. No 1’s luckily enough but the Ostler did roll a Natural 20 which is a Critical Hit. Let’s see what that result is. Zero level characters get a d4 to roll on Crit Table I and the Oster rolled a 4! “Strike to foe’s kneecap. Inflict +1d4 damage with this strike and the foe suffers a -10’ penalty to speed until healed.” Nice!

Both statues are quickly demolished but the Guild Beggar’s group has lost two members before they even reached the front door!

That’s it for this week, next week we’ll check that front door out and find out what happens when the Herbalist scales the tower. Until then, be excellent to each other!